Marvel’s Iron Man VR is out in just a few days, and there’s plenty of reasons to be excited about the game, given how it’s promising to be full-fledged and authentic VR-exclusive Iron Man experience. Developers Camouflaj recently revealed some new details on the customization and upgrade mechanics of the game in a video, and now in a new update on the official PlayStation blog, director Ryan Payton has dropped many more details, including the game’s estimated length, its combat, the locations included in the game, and more.
What’s most pleasing to read is that the game’s supposedly going to hit a pretty sweat spot in terms of length. Wanting to deliver a “a robust PlayStation VR-exclusive Iron Man action game with a deeply meaningful Tony Stark story,” the developers were initially aiming for a 4-5 hour length, but after recent playtests, it’s looking like the game is twice as long, which would be 8-10 hours.
Payton also talks about the game’s environments, which he describes as big and open spaces that will allow players to “fly around at top speed.” Some of the locations you’ll be able to do that in are a S.H.I.E.L.D. Hellicarrier, the city of Shanghai – the game’s “most ambitious environment” and one that will “craft a storyline that puts Stark Tower in the thick of the action and drama” – and a decommissioned Stark Industries facility, which Payton says is a compact space, but one good for combat challenges.
Payton also writes about the game’s combat mechanics. “Throughout our story-driven campaign, we layer on core mechanics in hopes that, by the final cinematic, you feel so in tune with the controls that you feel like you’ve fused together with the Impulse Armor,” he says, before going on to describe various mechanics.
These include a boost to increase your speed, the Rocket Punch – which will hit enemies “with a one-two-three hit combo” and then finish them off with a Repulsor Blast – auxiliary weapons – which are projectiles that you can shoot our of your gauntlets once you unlock them – the ground pound, and the Unibeam, which can be charged up and shot out of Iron Man’s chest, but has to be properly timed.
Payton spends some time discussing the game’s story, saying that the game tells “a personal story about Tony Stark that leverages the unique storytelling strengths of PlayStation VR.” Payton says it will “put players in the shoes of Tony and bring them up-close-and-personal with classic Marvel characters such as Pepper Potts, Nick Fury and FRIDAY (as well as a host of other characters we have yet to reveal).” You will also be able to “physically interact and form a stronger bond” with these characters during specific points in the campaign.
Finally, Payton also briefly discusses what the prospect of VR interactivity has added to the game in terms of immersion, which is something the developers have emphasized several times in the past. “During the development of Marvel’s Iron Man VR, we were amazed at how much VR-powered interactions added to the sense of immersion — moments such as extinguishing an engine fire or rescuing Pepper from a burning jet,” Payton writes. “Although building these moments require lots of time and resources, we had a blast sprinkling them throughout the main campaign.”
Marvel’s Iron Man VR is out exclusively for PlayStation VR on July 3.